Benone Thursday 30th June

Took a half day from work today, although buy the time I got to the beach it was about 4pm. Wind was a bit sketchy, but I rigged up anyway.

I spent a fair bit of time on the beach practicing kite manouvres. When the wind was really low I also practiced a little unhooked flying.

I was out on the water for about 30 minutes in total the whole afternoon, but it was really good time, I did quite a bit of jumping practice, landed a couple of tiny jumps. Also managed to get a bit of toeside in, and toeside turns. Tried a wee bit of unhooked when the wind dropped a bit too, but couldn't get the angles right, and couldn't keep hold of the kite. Good practice, a good, if very short session.

Saturday 25th June 2011 Location 'X'

Hadn't planned on going out today at all, but got a phone call as I finished lunch, so I headed to the beach, at the mysterious location 'X'.

After being convinced that it was safe, and that I was at a good enough level to kite there I got set up, and headed out.

It was a middling session, good to get out, nice steady wind (mostly) and sunny with quite flat water! It wasn't a bad session, sometimes you think you shouldn't have bothered, but because of the new location I was a little unsure about trying stuff, so I was quite tame. I spent most time just riding around, which was fine.

I'm at the stage now where I like to try some stuff, but usually only where I know it can be quite easily recovered. I probably would have been OK trying stuff as kite relaunch and board retrieval would have been easy in the flat water.

Will definitely be there again, don't press me on the exact location be cause I could tell you, but then I'd have to....

Benone / Castlerock 22 June 2011

Its midsummer time, so I donned my winter wetsuit and gloves and headed to Benone tonight after tea. I was hoping to finish up work early and be at the beach just after 4pm, but the forecast dropped off a lot, so I knew if there was going to be wind it would be later.

When I arrived at Benone the wind was reading 13-16mph, but it was steady so I rigged up the 12 and went out. It was pretty difficult to stay upwind, especially as the wind was quite onshore.

I persevered for about an hour, and then decided to give up, it was working, but only just - very disappointing. On the way home I called into Castlerock when the wind was reading around 20mph! So I set up and went out for about another hour and a half. This was a much better session, staying upwind was no problem, and I got a bit of toeside riding in on the flat water too.

The combination of wind and wave direction made it a little tricky, but it was all good practice.

On both beaches there were only a few people, sometimes none, just the occasional walker out with a dog.

It certainly was a pleasant evening, should have went to Castlerock first!

Benone Sat 4th June

Had a short session out at Benone today, the forecast was marginal, but for almost straight onshore wind. I used to like straight onshore wind, because its very safe, no chance of falling in deep water, and you can ride for miles too. However, today the wind was just a bit light, making it difficult to get out into the sea at all.

I persevered for about an hour, it was nice to get out, but it was far from spectacular, although I still think I was having more fun than most of the others on the beach, including the guys in their buggies.

Even better, because of my super wetsuit, and the few times I was actually in the water, I didn't even get properly wet :)

Scale of the universe

http://www.primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/

In car CCTV

http://www.pakatak.co.uk/shop/product.asp?P_ID=456

Some interesting recent Bible studies

Thought life:

http://www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-temptationandovercomingsin/purelife-guardyourthoughtlife.php

Marriage:

http://www.dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-marriageinformationandadvice/eightkeystoagreatmarriage.php

Parenting:

http://www.biblebb.com/files/ryle/PARENTSJC.HTM

Castlerock - 14th May 2011

Today was planned to be a busy day, but also a good wind day, so I decided to make an early start and headed off to the beach around 7.

When I arrived at Benone there was almost no wind. The anemometer was reading 7-10 mph! It was also cross-off.

I waited a while and then left. Randomly I decided to pop into Castlerock to see the beach there, and unbelievably it was blowing 20-30 mph! I stalled a bit as I haven't been out at Castlerock since I've been riding, it's a smaller beach, and there is a horrible pier at the end.

However, I did get set up, but as I finished setting up I noticed a big rain shower coming in. So I sat in the car(see pic at top) and watched the puddles form in the kite. After the rain finished (only a few minutes) I ended up having a great wee session out on the water in the sunshine. I was probably out for about an hour, the waves were choppy, big, flat, frothy, not frothy and then choppy again in that time - quite a variety.

Didn't really learn much, was trying a bit of toeside, some carving turns, and some small jumps. Just having fun mainly :)

What are the cameras for?

There are a lot of questions around the new cameras springing up all round the country. Don't worry folks, they aren't trying to catch you speeding, they just want to build a 5 year database of your movements...

http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/National_Vehicle_Tracking_Database

Benone Kitesurfing - Sun 1st May

Today was another sunny, windy day. I managed to make it down to Benone for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Again it was a pretty good day, wind was quite good, water was a bit too choppy though, but still very good.

I was trying a bit of jumping, but not getting on very well. I can do nice wee jumps on the way out, using the waves as a ramp, only a few feet, but still nice. I was trying to boost on the way in, but with limited success. I managed to just about land one of the million tries, but all the rest resulted in a static landing, or even landing with the kite facing the opposite direction.

Will keep working. This is my target for this year, simple boosts.

Benone Kitesurfing - Sat 30 April

The recent spell of weather has been quite unbelievable, although it's not uncommon to get a few hot days in April, it is uncommon to get a few good weeks! However the "good" weather didn't come with wind... until this weekend.

Easterlies had been forecast, sometimes slightly North, sometimes slightly South, but the forecast looked good for Benone.

I actually went down yesterday after work, Alan was out, but there was barely enough wind to fly, and it wasn't even worth a try. Today however the wind was blowing hard, well worth it.

I was out for about 2 hrs. It's unusual for me riding in an Easterly; going out across the waves with the right foot first is difficult to get used to. However once I got over my initial wobbles I was fine.

It was a really good session, a bit up and down. I also learned something about my confidence - normally I can turn really well at the shore side, and am more cautious and reluctant at the deep end. Well, changing the direction of the run didn't make any difference to that. I should have been able to make good turns, even ride toeside on the way out. No chance. It's clearly a confidence thing, and when the direction is changed the problem stays the same.

Looking forward to more sunshine riding tomorrow :)

Kate's first public performance

Tonight Kate played at the Spring Concert for the Causeway School of Music. When she was asked to play we didn't think an awful lot about it, we'd never been before and it was probably something like a school concert.

We were wrong. Kate was about half way though the program, and we sat and watched lots of brilliant acts come before her. By the time she was walking to the grand piano right at the other side of the packed theatre I think I was significantly more nervous than her. Most of the kids were some sort of child prodigy, there were some who were so young that they were just cute regardless of talent, but the standard was very high.

Kate took a few moments to compose herself, and began to play her grade 3 exam piece, which she played very well.

It was a great evening, really nice to hear such a variety of music and talent, from young and old.

Dooey, Sat 2nd April

The wind has been from steady S/SW direction all week, although some times very strong and others weak, but the forecast was showing reasonably good for Dooey for today.

I just got up at my usual time, got breakfast and set out on the road. I arrived at the beach just after 9am, and there was only a gentle breeze. After hanging around for a few minutes the breeze changed to wind, so I got the gear, and began setting up. At one stage the kite was hard to hold as I was pumping it, but when I finished setting up there was no wind!

At around 10am a couple of others landed, and decided to set up, and sure enough, by the time they were set up the wind had started.

We all went out onto the water, after a short time I had a big fall and lost my board. The waves were huge and frequent, and the body-dragging to get the board was really difficult; each time I took a breath another huge wave hit me, and it was hard to see where the board was. I was exhausted by the time I found the board, and came in for a short rest. Apart from that time I had a fantastic time on the water. My riding continues to improve, now easily recovering from little mistakes that would have tumbled me last year.

My jumping over waves is also improving and obviously I don't even attempt any jumps when further out - its just too risky for me at the moment. I haven't mastered the kite action for non-wave jumps yet, was practising a little, but I just enjoy riding back and forward too much (and don't like falling in :) )

I did one huge jump, seemed like 15-20 feet, probably more like 6, although it was a shock how far away the water was. I was going over a huge wave, and concentrating so much on getting up the front and down the back that I lost the kite, and it went into floaty jump position, so up I went. It was actually quite easy to control (once I noticed it) and I floated down to a nice soft landing in the water, without my board unfortunately. A good experience though - can't wait 'til I can do it under control.

After about 1.5-2 hrs on the water the wind started to pick up and it was time to come in for a kite change, and lunch - I could hardly hold the kite on full depower to get landed!

After lunch I pumped up the 9 and went out again. It began to rain, really the only proper rain we saw all day, but the wind was really steady during and after the rain. Otherwise the wind was very up and down, sometimes badly underpowered, and sometimes a little overpowered. But, it was another great session, although I was tired I still felt I was learning. Another 1.5-2 hrs on the water in the afternoon, and I was wrecked. It was pack up and home time.

A fantastic day, and helped by the fact the air temperature was 10-15 degrees, and the sun was out, really nice. A great mix of big waves, small waves, broken and unbroken waves, sunshine and showers.

Visual C# error - Unable to copy file .. because it is being used by another process

Since I downloaded Visual C# Express 2010 and migrated all my heating control projects to it, each time I build my main client application I get a really annoying error about the exe file being in use:

Unable to copy file "obj\Debug\MyProjectXXX.dll" to "bin\Debug\MyProjectXXX.dll". The process cannot access the file 'bin\Debug\MyProjectXXX.dll' because it is being used by another process.

It seems that the solution to this problem is to add a pre-build event that works some unlocking spell on the exe, found the answer here (which curiously says MS fixed it in 2003)

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/csharpide/thread/68648642-08d8-4cff-b0c3-c2782f010589

Benone Sunday 27th Feb

I made it down to Benone shortly after 1pm today, and its always great to be driving down and see the kites flying in the distance. When I got there a lot of kites were parked firmly on the beach, and people were holding wind meters up, never a good sign. The general consensus is that the wind was a bit light, but it felt surfable to me, so I got set up.

It was a beautiful day, sun shining, and nice long flats between the (sometimes huge) waves.

I probably only spent about an hour actually on the water, and it was a mixture of being nicely powered up, and sometimes just not having enough.

It was a good day, I think I am making some progress, feeling a lot steadier, and a lot more confident over the waves, and I didn't catch the nose of the board on a landing at all.

Still need a lot of work on a lot of things. Sean was trying to persuade me to try a back roll, so maybe I'll give that a go next time. I think I need to work on a bit of basic jumping etc first, but we'll see. Can't wait to get out again!

Benone, 1st Jan 2011

The forecast was looking marginal for today, but I took a drive down to the beach anyway. When I got there there were loads of people, and not loads of wind.

After standing for a while I decided to give it a try, so got all geared up and headed out. It was well worth it, although very straight on the waves were such that riding over them wasn't really a problem.

Spent only about an hour out, and then the wind dropped, so I came in for a rest. Wasn't cold apart from the tips of my fingers, which were freezing!! I should have worn my gloves to get set up.

I was going to go out again, but I felt a little cold and chickened out. Still, nice to get out after a long break.

Snow season

Second set of snow this season so far and it's only December!

Since the return of the snow last Friday I've been out on the snowboard either in the garden or on the hills every day at least twice. Due to the travel chaos I haven't been attempting to make the trip to work, so I've had early starts working from home which facilitate two hour long lunches. My father-in-law has very graciously lent us the quad, so the kids and I load it up with snowboard and sleds and head out to the fields each lunchtime.

We also went out for a couple of hours one evening when the light of the full moon was like daylight.

As for progress, I have been steadily improving, still sometimes struggling with basic stuff, but riding pretty solid now.

Got my regular riding going well, and linked turns no problem. Still scared like mad of any jumps though - they're a lot higher when you're going over them!! As for my switch side, I can ride ok, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, getting good enough to ride sections and do a sliding turn.

I have also been working on my 180s, but I think I'm just a bit too lazy to jump around. I started working on them on a small kicker in the garden, and managed to pull one off. However after watching youtube videos it seems that the best thing to do is learn gradually, and work up to jumps, so I have been practising the sliding change from regular to switch and back. Sometimes frontside and sometimes back.

Its all coming together, the biggest problem I have now is the short length of any run, they are just not long enough to get any real practice in. Need to head to the proper slopes. Penny saving has started :)

Now Christmas is upon us, which means no boarding tomorrow, or Boxing day, and then the forecast is for thaw :(

Linking turns

Tonight I got another chance to use my own private nursery slope. I first of all started to work on my toeside falling leaf, which I have to say went surprisingly well!

After this I spent the rest of the evening trying to link my turns, and sometimes was more successful than others. However, by the end of my time I was doing not too bad, maybe not very beautiful, but not too bad :)

Heelside falling leaf

More practice, about another hour tonight. Have my heelside falling leaf working out well for me now, still no idea about toeside, will need to work more on that.

Also, no new snow, so the snow that is there is getting icy, and not that great for control, but still better than wet sticky, or even worse - none!

First Snowboarding Winter 2010

I was really surprised when I arrived home from work to see that there was a good coating of snow all over our grass. We have not had as much snow as lots of other places. The best thing was that it was all really good grainy powder.

After we had tea I headed out to my very own private nursery slope :)

I pretty much started off from where I had left off last season, I was riding reasonably well, but couldn't ride switch at all. So after a few full length, normal runs, I decided to work on the switch. After a good few slow short runs I was starting to get it, and ventured to the top. From there I would start off switch, ride across the slope to the edge and change to regular. Then zig-zagging down the hill I got lots of practice in, including stopping and changing directions.

By the end of the evenings, after a few quite hard falls, I was doing pretty well, riding fast in switch, and flipping round to toeside, then carving (a little) round to regular, and flipping back to switch at the other side. Some of the runs felt really fluid, and quick. Other times I just fell. I think its like the kitesurfing - what I need is just more practice. Oh, and a ski lift :)